Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday strongly defended President Donald Trump’s firing of James Comey, linking the FBI director’s abrupt dismissal to his handling of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation.

Sessions, appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, said it was “the first time I’m aware of” in which an FBI director had performed the traditional role of Justice Department prosecutors by announcing on his own the conclusion of a federal investigation — that no charges would be brought against Clinton.

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Under questioning by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Sessions refused to discuss any private conversations he had with the president leading up to Comey’s firing and would not say if he had discussed with the president an FBI investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign.

The Attorney General said Trump asked for written recommendations on what to do with Comey from both Sessions and Rosenstein. Sessions says he urged the firing of Comey because of Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe, a decision that still frustrates Trump, who subjected him to a solid week of blistering public criticism this summer. He told members of the committee that he had not been interviewed by the team of investigators led by Robert Mueller, the Justice Department’s special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation.

Questions into the Comey firing were just a part of the nearly five hour testimony.

Sessions' opening statement began with a defense of President Donald Trump's third attempt at a travel ban. A federal judge in Hawaii struck down the ban Tuesday.

"The order is lawful, necessary, and we are proud to defend it," Sessions said, telling the committee that the ban is an important tool in the fight against terrorism.

He has tried to pressure so-called sanctuary cities into cooperating with federal immigration authorities by threatening to withhold grant money, and he was the public face of the Trump administration’s decision to end the DACA program, which benefits hundreds of thousands of young people who entered the U.S. illegally as children. During his testimony, Sessions said that DACA was "unlawful," and that the program "could not be sustained."